With the arrival of monsoon water, fishermen are catching fry and mother fishes indiscriminately with banned current nets in rivers, haor and canals of Kishoreganj, known as the country's largest fish reservoir.
The administration claims that a strong operation is underway against those who kill mother and young fishes with illegal nets.
As the rivers, haor and canals in Kishoreganj Sadar, Karimganj, Itna, Mithamain, Ashtagram, Tarail, Katiyadi, Pakundia and Bhairab upazilas have got monsoon water, various egg-bearing mother fish and fry of indigenous species, including Tengra, Batasi, Punti, Mala, Shoal and Magur, are being sold openly in different local fish markets.
Balikhola wholesale fish market in Karimganj upazila, which is known as the gateway to Haor, is selling different species of young fish, including rui, katla and boal. The young fishes have been caught with China Duari nets from different rivers, including Dhanu river adjacent to the market. In addition, the unscrupulous fishermen catch fish day and night with various fishing equipment, including nets and current nets, from different points of the Beel. As if there is no one to see this.
According to sources from the Fisheries Office, usually the mother fishes release their eggs in the month of June-July. When the new water starts coming in, the fish start hatching. Fishing is absolutely prohibited during this time. According to the Fisheries Act of 1950, hunting of eggs and mother fish is legally prohibited. But as soon as the water came, the fishermen started hunting fish. The eggs get caught in the fishermen's nets and get destroyed.
According to the District Fisheries Office, the number of registered fishermen in the district is over 87,000. Some more fishermen have applied for the card. If these are approved, the number of fishermen will exceed 88,000. However, since Kishoreganj is a waterlogged district, the number of people who earn their livelihood by fishing during the monsoon season becomes about 2.5 lakh.
According to the district fisheries office, 22,474 metric tons of fish were produced in Haor of Kishoreganj in the fiscal year 2020-21. In the fiscal year 2021-22, 24,631 metric tons of fish were produced. In the fiscal year 2022-23, 28,021 metric tons of fish were produced. There are 26 rivers, 347 beels and 122 haors in the district as public and private. Apart from this, there are 22 beel nurseries and 11 abhayashrams.
Locals said if these nets continue to be used, there will be a fish crisis in Haor. Besides catching big fish from different rivers, small fish fry is being killed. A large quantity of small fish was sold in the Balikhola market on the banks of the river Dhanu. Boal fish fry is the most seen. These young fish is being sold cheaply. They fear that there may be a fish crisis in Haor.
It has been found that fishermen and hunters in connivance with local beneficiaries are freely killing juveniles and mother fish every day in the afternoon, evening, night and early night. Especially since the authorities concerned have not taken any action to stop the killing of young and mother fish, every day hundreds of fishermen are catching fish using the banned nets.
On the condition of anonymity, some net traders said the biggest current and China nets wholesale business in the district is in Barabazar, Bhairab, Karimganj and Tarail upazilas. A few businessmen do the wholesale business of illegal current and China nets worth lakhs of taka. Traders buy currents and china nets worth lakhs of taka from them and sell them in different upazila markets.
Some fishermen said all types of fishes are caught with this net. Some greedy people are killing mother and young fishes. “You cannot find a real fisherman, who kills the fry fish. We want those who do such things to be brought to justice,” said a fisherman.
District Fisheries Officer Mohammad Shahidul Islam said operation is being conducted every week. It is a routine work. Last June, 40 raids and 11 mobile courts were conducted in the entire district. And two people were fined Tk 4,000. A total of 177 pieces of current nets with a length of 14,400 metres have been seized. Besides, 7,644 Chinese nets with a length of 82,787 metres have been seized. The figures for July are not yet known but there were more raids and mobile courts than in June and a lot of current and China nets were also seized.
Kishoreganj Additional District Magistrate Mizabe Rahmat said regular operations are being conducted. Legal action will be taken against those who kill mother fish and fry with current nets and china nets.
